The Svalbard snowpack in a changing climate, RIS-ID 11142

Assess the effects of a changing climate on the snowpack in Svalbard, with focus on warmer and wetter winters. The aim is to link the climatic changes (especially heavy wintertime rain) to changes in snowpack properties like temperature and ice layers. Snowpack models are compared to field observations of snow variability. Investigate the effects of rain-on-snow on ice layers, ground ice and snow and ground temperature. Assess the implications for avalanches mitigation, permafrost warming and food availability for reindeer. During the winter 2018/2019 snowpack evolution models will be run with forcing from weather stations and weather forecasting models to give a "real-time" status of the snow properties. The performance of these models is assessed by comparing to snowpack observations made in the vicinity of Ny-Ålesund around the peak of snow accumulation.